20 Months!

It's so hard to believe we've had our little Audrey Joanne for 20 months! Looking back at pictures from those first few months, it's seriously somewhat difficult to remember that phase of life. People say it 'flies by' and while it doesn't feel fast when you're in the midst of it, it truly does pass so quickly. It's almost sad to realize how much I've already forgotten. Now she's 20 months old and doing something new everyday

Here is a list of things Audrey is up to these days....

She loves to color with her crayons while sitting at her new big girl desk from Grandpa and Grandma Hemmer.


She loves to play with her pretend jewelry.


She also loves to play with her new kitchen (to sum it up, she loves all her new toys!)


She loves playing/wrestling around with her Daddy.


Her handmade sled from Grandpa Gale has been quite a hit!


She loves to listen to her music in the car and in her room. She 'sings' along to Jesus Loves Me and currently loves Zaccheaus and This Little Light of Mine.

She know exactly what she wants to do and she's not afraid to try to figure out how to get it. My Dad calls her the 'master manipulator'. For instance, she says, "Snack...yes!" or "Elmo....yes!" Before anyone gets a chance to say no, she says yes. She's not much for playing alone or getting super absorbed in any one activity. She's constantly on the move and seems to always be thinking of what to do next. I wish she would happily play without me a little more, but I suppose I'll miss that when she's older. It's a challenge to teach her to obey, she's so strong-willed. However, most of the time, she is a very very good and sweet girl.

She is very polite. For some reason, please and thank-you, were very easy to teach.

She LOVES books.

She is saying new words everyday now. Today she said "man" "horse" and "orange" for the first time! She does some signing still, but says much more than she signs. It's getting kind of fun to try to figure out what she's trying to communicate to me. Mostly I know all her words. It took me a few minutes to figure out "ban-ya" She used to say "ba" for banana, now it's apparently a bit more sophisticated.

When I say, "A..." Audrey says, "B.....C!" And when I say, "One..." She says, "Two!"

When I write out her name, she say, "Au-dee!" and points to herself :)

She's growing out of her 24mo clothes and now has some toddler sizes!

She's 29lbs and I think like 33 inches (at 18months)

Well....I think I'll leave it at that!

It's been a joy watching this little person take shape, we love her so much! Here's a few more pictures from December.

Christmas morning

Cookies on the face

The one and only time Audrey actually willingly posed for the camera and was in a very silly mood!

Looking at Grandma's tree.

My pretty girl on Christmas Day

I almost deleted this because the randomness is almost too much to bear....

I never know what to blog about anymore. I used to blog all the time, like daily, when I was in college. Now, it's like I have no clue what to say. Maybe it's because there's so much going on my head, but not a lot of variety going on in the day to day living. And, since I don't to blab about my "feelings" and the day to day is a little uninteresting, I guess that's why I don't blog.

But ok, I'll try anyways. This blog has no theme (everyone's blog entries seem to have themes, so I feel pressured to come up with a good theme).

I just got home from work. I work straight evening shifts (minus the weekends) and I get off around 11:30pm. Chris is working a lot of early early shifts now, so he's in bed by 10p. On a normal night now, I find myself up alone, for hours at night. Usually, this would be fun. However, now all my favorite shows, House, Biggest Loser, TLC shows, are all on a break or done for a season, so there's nothing on TV to watch. I'm too tired to be productive and there's only so much time I can spend on facebook. So, this is the reason I am resorting to blogging, because I'm not ready for bed and there's nothing else to do!

I am beyond excitied for Christmas, yet I almost don't want it to come because as soon as it starts, it's over and regular life (and a 48 work week) begin again and the excitement is over. I thought this way as a kid too (minus the work week, but add in going back to school). I'm excited for myself, but I'm more excited to see Audrey experience Christmas. She was 8 months last year, so she'll be way more into it this year, or so I would imagine. I'm excited to see her open presents and peek in stockings and just interact with her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. It's a joy to watch other people enjoy Audrey. I love being able to share her with family. She also loves being with her extended family.

Christams Eve is the Hemmer Christmas. We go to Grandma Hemmer's house every Xmas Eve (minus a few random 'let's try someone else's house' years) This year will be slightly bitter-sweet, although I'll try to focus on the good, because my cousins won't be there :( They're breaking the mold and traveling to Florida to be with their other side of the family. Also, my brother may not be there due to his wife's grandfather's funeral earlier that day :( Poor Jenny. But we will still have fun!

Christmas morning will be my little family of three. I'm curious to see how Audrey will react to the pile of presents that'll show up in the morning. I bet she'll say, "wooooow" I'm torn between enjoying the moment for all it's worth and/or video taping. Maybe a little of both. I look forward to us all plopping on the floor in our jammies, taking our time, and opening our gifts to each other. I grew up with a special Christmas breakfast, but my husband just wants cereal, everyday, no exceptions, so I guess I get to give myself a break and make nothing cool for xmas morning. Although....maybe Audrey will appreciate that someday, so maybe I'll make something special for her and I, like french toast, my fav.

Later on, we'll go to the Erickson side Christmas. This is at my Grandma Erickson's house. This is one large clan, but not too large. My Grandparents have 4 kids plus spouses and between them there are 10 grandkids plus 3 spouses and a finace, one great grandkid! It's my favorite day of the whole year! We eat, open gifts and then just hang out and eat too many cheese and crackers. Fun fun, I hope it doesn't go too fast!

Then finally, a new tradition has emerged. On Christmas night we go to my parents house to have a little time with my parents, brothers, sis in law, and us. It is what used to be Christmas morning as a child, but now has become Christmas night with 2 spouses and a baby added! This is such a nice time too, just us, I can't wait!!!

Ok, well, that's enough about Christmas I suppose.

What else.....
Audrey is getting smarter and smarter. She's doing new things everyday and finding new ways to make us laugh. She says a few two-word phrases now. For example, she'll put a blanket over my head and say, "Mama go?" or when I ask her where Daddy is she'll say, "at work". She's also a feisty little girl. She loves to say no when we say yes. But to her credit, she does obey quite often too. She's more likely to get in crazy feisty moods when out in public...
We love her so much and it's a joy watching her grow, it's quite amazing watching a human life progress. The mind is so amazing. The things she picks up on and learns without much help from us is incredible. That little 20 month old sure know what she likes and what she wants and doesn't want.

She loves: her family, going to Target to see the babies in the baby aisle, running around the mall, going to see her friend Luke (who's mommy Jen watches Audrey for us several times a month), "playing with the kids", I call it, at church, MOPs, and at the gym, eating snow, taking baths, watching sign videos, watching short Elmo videos on you tube (haha, not sure how that started), wrestling with her daddy, coloring (or rather telling me what to draw for her), having snacks, reading books, looking through photo albums, saying 'bye' and pretending to leave by hiding behind things, bananas, yogurt, drinking from a straw, going to Barnes and Noble, and so on.....

Well, if you're still reading, congratulations. I guess I'll go off to bed now. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I'm beyond grateful that God sent his son to earth as a baby so he could grow up and save my life. I hope you understand that too :)

~Brianna